We had the good fortune of connecting with Samantha Araujo Harding and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha Araujo, how does your business help the community?
In 2012 when Sahar first started one of the values was to only work with small family based businesses, as Sahar grew nowadays we work solely with family based businesses within the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, creative opportunities and income for the forgotten people of Brazil. During Covid we were able to implement two social projects within Sahar by Samantha Harding, Project Mar and Project Movimento , Project Mar supports a local community based surf School where Samantha learned to surf in Arpoador – RIo de Janeiro. The idea of this project is to grow in ways we help everything to do with the sea, starting with the surf school. Project Movement is to help athletes, initially we support one brazilian athlete, She is a Brazilian Jiu jitsu fighter from the communities in the North of Brazil. Our idea is to use a % of what we sell to give back to the community.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Art is something that I have always been in love with, it always sparked a big interest within my life and something I have always got involved with in a way. I created Sahar in 2012 out of the blue when I was studying Fashion in university in Brazil. It grew so fast and started selling in different countries that I did not expect that happening so fast. One main lesson I learned was to always have capital within your business to keep reinvesting in marketing. Its also important to have a good company structure to keep everything running smoothly.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So I have a few spots in a-lot of cities I consider home, thanks to Sahar by Samantha Harding I travel a lot so home is normally on the road for me. So lets start with: Brazil, Rio – My favorite beaches are Ipanema Posto 9 and Joatinga. I normally go to the beach during the week, as weekends it’s way too crowded. My favorite rest would be Malta for meat and Koba for Japanese. Favorite hotel would be Fasano in Ipanema.
California, San Diego – My favorite beach is Wind and sea, Restaurant is OTA and hotel would be open as I have a lot of family in San Diego and usually stay with them.
Los Angeles – My favorite area is Santa Monica, Favorite restaurant is Urth cafe & BOA steakhouse. You will normally find me at one of the Soho houses.
Bali, Indonesia – Bali is beautiful and a must too. You will normally find me around Perenan. There are so many restaurants and beautiful hotels so it’s hard to list a few because there are a lot.
London, UK – I live in London at the moment so I spend a-lot of time in the city! My favourite hotel is The Mandrake , Restaurant is hard because there is SO many! But shout out to the coffee shops that are all amazing! On special days I will reserve Novikov to celebrate and for shopping you can find me at Selfridges or Harrods!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Id like to give a shoutout to my dad, he has always been there for me encouraging me to go forward and also helping me set goals to reach the best of myself.

Website: www.saharbysamanthaharding.com

Instagram: @saharbysamanthaharding

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